Travel Tips

Sleeping With Warhol: Stay in an Art Hotel When Travelling in America

Locations in this article:  Chicago, IL Louisville, KY Minneapolis, MN New York City, NY San Francisco, CA Tacoma, WA

INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL CHICAGO O’HARE

Intercontinental O’Hare airport hotelThis InterContinental may technically be attached to O’Hare, but unlike most airport hotels, this one will surprise you—and even indulge your inner art-lover. Purpose-built to design and display art, this brand-new 550-room gallery/museum/hotel has 1,500 pieces in the guest rooms alone, plus another 65 pieces throughout the public areas and gallery space. And though the hotel does have a concierge, it also has two full-time art curators who offer champagne art tours every afternoon.

The permanent collection consists of three distinct pieces in each guest room and the lobby, while the corridors, lobby and other public spaces offer a stunning selection of sculpture, 3D installations, and paintings, most of which are available for purchase.

IC O’HareSome of the more notable pieces include three Rauschenbergs, two Dalis, and the $55,000 “Alphabet” set by Tony Fitzpatrick, the only complete 26-piece set in the world.
The hotel’s Art/Museo Collection also features the works of Jay Ryan, who has been making screen-printed concert posters in Chicago since 1995.

Though the InterContinental O’Hare has only been open a few months, they have already sold several pieces and plan to rotate the collection every six months or so.
847-544-5300, www.icohare.com

chambers art hotel “the other”CHAMBERS HOTEL

It may be cold in the Midwest, but the art is hot.

And you’ll find a lot of it at the Chambers Hotel in Minneapolis, which boasts a collection of abstract, provocative contemporary art created primarily by American and British artists.

The 200-plus pieces in the Chambers were all hand-picked by owners Ralph and Peggy Burnet, who are considered to be among the top 200 art collectors in the world. The artists range from art students to internationally known names like Damien Hirst.

Though the pieces on permanent display in the public areas and the guests rooms aren’t for sale, if you’re so inclined you can buy a piece or two from the commercial gallery, which has exhibits that change four to six times a year.

And in one area, the Chambers really steps “out of the box” by keeping it in the box … the television box, that is. The hotel features an enormous amount of video art, including an outdoor projection screen and 44 monitors in the hallways playing videos created by more than 60 artists such as William Wegman.

Art-o-mat machineAnd how’s this for cool? The hotel houses something called the Art-o-mat machine which is both an art-dispensing device and a piece of art itself.

Basically a revamped cigarette machine, the Art-o-mat takes $5 tokens and in return dispenses cigarette-pack sized pieces of art made by dozens of local artists. You never know what you’re going to get, but that’s part of the fun!

With so much going on art-wise at the Chambers, you may almost feel overwhelmed. If so, you may want to consider taking a tour, which can be done privately or in a group. The art director will give you a mini crash-course to help you appreciate the hotel’s world-class collection. 612-767-6900, www.chambersminneapolis.com

JUMEIRAH ESSEX HOUSE

essex house exteriorWant to experience New York’s Central Park through art? Then head to Jumeirah Essex House on Manhattan’s Central Park South.

In 2007 Essex House launched an art program designed to explore the past and present of the park. The program includes a curator, an artist-in-residence program, and a partnership with the Museum of the City of New York.

The artist-in-residence program allows artists to live on the doorstep of their muse, and thereby provides inspiration to create art that interprets and celebrates the park. So far two artists, Atta Kim and Mark Inerst, have created paintings and photographs which are on display in the lobby.

Essex watercolorThe “Heart of Central Park” exhibit in the hotel’s dedicated gallery space tells the history of the park through photographs and watercolors that were hand-picked from the archives of the Museum of the City of New York and the Magnum photo agency. Photographs are also displayed throughout the corridors of the hotel.

The photographs themselves are not for sale, but reprints are available for purchase and the hotel can put you in contact with other galleries or directly with the artists.

Curator Katie Gass, who is currently the only hotel curator in New York, gives art tours of the hotel and of the city by appointment. Guests can also take self-guided MP3 walking tours of Central Park to learn more about the local art and architecture.
212-247-0300, www.jumeirahessexhouse.com

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